Project Chiwoo (LONG)

So I have a new doll.

LOL I know. Like I need more. This one at least has somewhat of a good excuse....I've been trying to sell my B&G body (type 2 boy WS) for awhile now, but there has only been mild interest. For those who don't know, this was formerly Uriel's body, when he was WS (all three heads). Before that, it was Wyn's body. Wyn got a different body because it was too ablicious for his cute little self, and I'd been blushing Uriel heads to match it ever since. Now that Uriel is NS, I had no need for it so it went up for sale.

and was up for a few months.

I am...kind of attached to this body. It works. It's a good poser. It belonged to some of my favorite dolls....Part of me didn't want it to go. I thought I could put my Jungatoy skull on it and make a Sammael, but it didn't fit and I was unwilling to mod it so it would. Having a floating body around sucks, both because it takes up tons of room and because buying a head is so much easier than buying a body XD

I had looked a few times on the MP for a head. I actually had a character in mind, Hanael (calls himself James), one of my Angels, so I kind of knew what I would want. Big eyes and a sweet face. Or at least one that could be sweet lolIt would also need to be WS, yellowed and inexpensive, so probably damaged. I was kind of looking at certain delf heads because I thought they'd have a decent chance of somewhat matching and a couple options were Shiwoo (cause of the cute), Yder (not a huge fan, but I thought it could work) and Chiwoo (not a big fan of this one either but still looked). None cheap enough to entice me (most were 100 or more above normal price due to having a faceup by a "famous" person :P) so I was only idly looking. The body was still for sale.

Then this Sunday, I went to a dollmeet. LOL You can guess where this is heading.

All my sales items (most are no longer up on DOA) went with, including my poor body (how many times can you say something like that lol).I had been wandering around the meet admireing dolls and attempting to take photos when a local owner asked me about a wig i had for sale. She'd gotten her first mini and had nothing for the poor thing. She decided to buy the wig (paypal pending) and had left the room....when I saw the head. It was old, yellowed (greened really) horribly, damaged, repaired, modded, repaired again and drawn on. It was hard to tell if it was an Elf Chiwoo or a reg Chiwoo that had been modded (I honestly can't tell the diff anyway, other than the obvious ears) he was such a mess. It turns out he'd been a project head that the owner I "sold" the wig too was selling. She wanted an outfit I had for sale and we did an even trade.

I tossed the for sale sign in the trash and wrestled "James" on to his new body. My roommate took him shopping in my sales crap and put together a truly awful outfit :D Consisting of black and red checked leggins from dollmore and a black t with "I <3 BOOBS" on it (made for a Mardi Gras meet lol). An ugly as hell wig, and some eyes that fit as good as they could.

When we got home after the meet I cleaned him off. Already much better. My roomy had a few fur wigs and after cutting one into a mohawk (for fun not cause he was going to keep it) I settled on a blue one for now. It's actually cute! His "real" hairs will be a butter yellow fur hopefully with a few colored streaks. BUT for now the blue is great! He's still wearing his yard-sale outfit (I'm used to it now, it's his). Or at least he was until earlier.

I finally had the time to work on him tonight. I sanded him all over in an attempt to even out the tone, he's greened horribly uneven. Probably due to sanding in places that I bet were damaged. It didn't help much and I don't want to ruin his shape so I mostly buffed out all the bad scratches.

Then I went to work on the body. It's old, yellowed and damaged. I unstrung it and sanded each piece, I really did it to get rid of the shine (it's always bugged me), but also to fix the scratches and chips. Most of them are gone now! Only one left I didn't want to chance sanding more. As a bonus, it's less yellow too! <3

Now, PIctures!!!

James as he was when I got him:

lookit that cute lil face <3It's hard to see the discolored parts. They're mostly on his forehead, cheeks and jawline. One huge spot right on the tip of his nose (bet he faceplanted in a former life)

both ears were pierced twice, the two top ones filled in. The left ear had been broken where the hole was, so I bet that's why they got filled. It was repaired, not too badly.

broken ear. and you can see the epoxy on his headcap. I'll get to that...you can barely see the scratches on his jaw in this pic.

these are his modsthey fixed him so his headcap attaches by magnet, not by twisting, and made it so he can have an shook, not a neck piece. It looks...awful lol but only on the inside (and a little on the headcap) and it works. I won't be messing with it for fear I'll screw it up. He works so well like this I don't care how bad it looks lol

After I cleaned him:yay! already better! scratches everywhere still, and uneven, but better than before I went at him with rubbing alcohol and a magic eraser!

I think his mouth is damaged too. This corner here looks...flatter than the other. I tried to fix it, and it's better now but still not perfect. If I was obsessed with perfect dolls I won't own Migis, so I'm not too bothered by it. XD

So that's it. This is my first project doll (not a huge project, but moreso than any other I've owned) so I'm excited to "fix" him. Tonight I plan to restring him and start spraying and blushing him to match his body and even out that color. Then he'll get a faceup and full body blush including a mani-pedi, a facial tattoo of an 09 and the Angelic symbol for Hanael....somewhere on him lol and be done!!

I guess eventually I'll get him his own wig and eyes XD and a few pieces of clothing. One step at a time!!